After the spring football scrimmages were held I asked the local and area coaches their thoughts on their scrimmage and how their respective teams played. Here are their responses
"I thought it was a very competitive scrimmage between excellent football teams. The most important aspect was we had no injuries which allows our players to jump right into summer weight training and conditioning. I thought we were physical and competed every down at a high level. The fact that we played a ton of talented young players was impressive. Our returning players obviously stood out. Jayden Burkhalter, Chakyn McClain and Ricardo Burris were explosive. We also discovered some other players that will be winners for us in Steven Tate and Preston Venable. Kerston Diddon and Devin Harris played extremely well. The offensive line grew throughout the scrimmage and will only get better. Kaleb Wright is the only returning starter up front and all of those guys are under classmen. Defensively, it was the best we have looked in a while. We had some big plays go against us, but those are tackling issues that we can correct.
We were strong up front, Kaleb Garrett is a handful and our strength is becoming more pronounced. Matt Harding, Rashard Ginn and Brayden Stafford all rising sophomore players are going to be excellent. The outside linebacker combo of Tyler Magee and Demontre Taylor are dynamic. The secondary is still a work in progress but played without two seniors that I held out because of slight injuries. I see big things coming from Cole Stewart and O'Sean Warren. Overall, you never say you won a scrimmage but we look like a team that is setting up to be practicing yet again at Thanksgiving or later. I believe the Demons are now back to where Coach Shane had them." ---Franklinton coach Nick Saltaformaggio.
"Our ones won 28-21. I was happy with our defense. I wanted to win at the line of scrimmage and tackle well. I feel like defensively we did that. Offensively we had some bright spots and we saw some things we need to fix. That's really what the spring is all about, figuring out the things that need to be fixed. I thought our skill players looked good on offense." ---Pine coach Bradley Seal.
"I thought it was a very successful spring. We got a lot of important things in and a lot of hard work was done. Saw a lot of good things from both sides of the ball and some things we have to keep working on but nothing that can't be fixed. I love how we are playing fast and physical. Guys are competing. I want to thank all the players and coaches for their continued work. It's showing." ----Bowling Green coach Dean King.
"We had a good spring scrimmage and I thought our kids competed hard from start to finish. We saw a lot of positives on both sides of the ball and the effort was there all night. The score for the live scrimmage was Varnado 8 Salem 0. More importantly we had a chance to work a lot of good situational work that helped us evaluate where we are as a team.
I'm proud of the way our guys competed. We still have areas we heed to improve, but that's what spring is for. Overall, I think we took a step in the right direction and our kids are excited about the direction we're headed going into the summer." --- Varnado coach Vonta Owens
"Out first groups looked pretty good. Offensively we were able to score some. Our all state back Jamyron Dillon is handling quarterback duties this spring and as usual he played lights out. We've got a lot of work to do special teams wise as we were perfect on extra points but didn't connect on field goal attempts but we'll get that done and our kicker is a gamer in Colin Adamson. Overall, had one minor injury but we'll get that kid back by fall and now we transition to weightroom/summer install and conditioning."
---Amite coach Zephaniah Powell
"I felt like we were very physical up front on both sides of the ball. I also thought our skill positions played exceptionally well. Toward the end, I think we got a little tired, but that is to be expected in a spring game. Belle Chasse is an extremely talented team. In the control scrimmage we scored twice and PATs were successful. We gave up a long touchdown on a very interesting play. Thought the runner was down. But, landed on top of his lineman. Our defense stopped; he then skirted 70 yards for a touchdown. Control scrimmage was 14-6. In the live play Jackson Aucoin to Will Walker added with a strong running game was enough to upset Belle Chasse 14-12. Was a step in the right direction for our program. I'm very proud of our effort from the coaches, support staff and of course our student athletes!" ----
Ponchatoula coach Scott Shaffett
